Author: Howard Wise

Recently, the state of Illinois came under fire as a lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court to evaluate and alter the state’s sex offender registration statutes.

The five sex offenders, who are currently identifying themselves as “John Doe” or “Jane Doe,” stand on the side of the prosecution. They are fighting the “vague prohibitions” in Illinois’ sex offender statutes and argue that the statutes are impeding on their rights to “engage in free speech, practice their religions…and organize their family affairs.”

They hope the lawsuit will cease the enforcement of the statutes until proper laws can be put into place. Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan and Illinois State Police director Leo Schmitz are listed as the defendants in this case.…

Driving is a privilege. And if you are convicted in Illinois of certain driving offenses – such as a DUI – your driving privileges may be revoked.

Losing driving privileges can be especially difficult for many individuals. We rely on our license and our vehicle to take us to and from work or school. Parents need to be able to transport their children to school or daycare. We also need to be able to get to the grocery store, doctor’s appointments, and countless other places that are necessary for our daily lives.

So, yes, losing your license can be a burden.

Luckily, under Illinois law, drivers are able to apply for reinstatement or a Restricted Driving permit under certain conditions.…

Recently in Chicago, three pairs of fathers and sons were busted for trafficking cocaine and heroin throughout the area, primarily around the Northwest Side of Chicago.

Their arrests were part of a massive drug bust by the Chicago Strike Force called “Operation Chicago Storm.” The Strike Force reported seizing 100 kilograms of cocaine, 9 kilograms of heroin, 14 firearms, and $600,000 – most likely related to the selling of narcotics. Including the three pairs of fathers and sons, 15 arrests were made in total.

While this has to be seen as a win for drug enforcement and keeping dangerous substances off of our streets, for the families of the arrestees it will likely be devastating – especially for the families of the three pairs of fathers and sons.…

Getting arrested – or even being questioned by a police officer – can be a scary and stressful experience. And when faced with a tough situation, many people often react emotionally as opposed to logically. While an emotional reaction is understandable, it’s not always the wisest or best way to behave.

For this reason, it’s important to understand what you should and shouldn’t do if you ever find yourself under arrest. Regardless of the reasons why you are getting arrested, you should do as you are told while also following these 5 things you should NOT do.

1. Don’t talk. When you are placed under arrest, you should be read your Miranda rights, which include your right to remain silent.…

On television’s Breaking Bad, Walter White glorified the manufacturing of methamphetamine. Nancy Botwin made growing and selling marijuana seem like a practical career choice on Weeds. And shows like HBO’s The Wire and Netflix’s Narcos give viewers an in-depth and almost sympathetic look into the lives of drug manufacturers, dealers, and kingpins.

We are surrounded by drugs in television, film, popular culture, and even the news. Just this past week, William McCaleb, a 33-year-old man from Lombard on the DuPage County Sheriff’s Office Most Wanted List, was arrested on felony warrants for manufacture/delivery of a controlled substance, manufacture/delivery of cannabis, and traffic offenses.

Despite the prevalence of drugs here in Illinois and throughout the United States, they are still illegal – except for a few exceptions – and they still carry harsh penalties.…

A South Side Chicago pastor has been accused of sexually abusing a minor for a number of years.

Reverend George Waddles, Sr. has been the pastor at Zion Hill Missionary Baptist Church for the past 29 years, and he recently pleaded not guilty to aggravated criminal sexual abuse. If convicted, he could be facing up to 7 years in prison.

Waddles has known the alleged victim since she was young, and began counseling her at the age of 13 in 2011 during private sessions in his office. Over the next two years, prosecutors say that the pastor asked the girl to lift her shirt, and he also tried to hug and kiss her at the end of their sessions together.…

Getting charged with a DUI can feel like the end of the road. Even if you’re confident you didn’t violate the law, how are you supposed to fight back against the word of a cop? Against test results that seem to prove your guilt?

But there are all kinds of reasons why someone may be charged and a number of different ways for you to call evidence into question and defend yourself. And you have to if you want to protect your future, because being convicted of a DUI is serious.

In order to learn how to beat an Illinois DUI charge, you first have to understand the law.…

Heroin. Cocaine. LSD. Methamphetamine. PCP. These are all illegal drugs in Illinois and throughout the United States. But when something is illegal, there tend to be people who try to find a way around the law.

So synthetic drugs were invented. Synthetic drugs are chemically laced substances similar to marijuana, cocaine, and methamphetamine that have been sold over the counter at gas stations, convenience stores, and smoke shops.

These drugs generally fall into two categories:

Cannabinoids contain chemical compounds that are designed to imitate the effects of THC in marijuana. K2 and Spice are common cannabinoids.
Cathinones contain chemical compounds that are designed to imitate the effects of cocaine or meth and are commonly known as “bath salts.”

Illinois – along with other states – has taken strides to ban these synthetic drugs since 2011 with new laws.…

Imagine this scenario: you attempt to commit a felony with a group of people. In the commission of this felony, someone in your group is shot and killed by another person. Because of your involvement in the initial felony, you are charged with their murder.

Huh? How is that possible? Should you be charged with killing someone when you didn’t do the actual killing?

This question is at the heart of Illinois’ controversial felony murder rule. Under this law, a suspect can face murder charges if another person dies while committing certain felonies.

But what does this really mean? How has the law been used? Glad you asked.…

Embezzlement. Money laundering. Bribery. Blackmail. Counterfeiting. Fraud. Extortion. Tax evasion. What do they all have in common?

They are all considered white collar crimes.

What’s a white collar crime, you ask? Well, a white collar crime usually involves a person or people lying, cheating, or stealing money from someone else, most often a business or corporation. More technically, they’re financial, corporate, or economic crimes usually carried out by complex means. These offenses can result in the loss of huge sums of money, and it’s not uncommon for offenders to gain a certain notoriety.

And they’re called white collar crimes these types of offenses are typically carried out by people who work in offices, and office workers traditionally wore white collared shirts to work because they were less likely to get their shirts dirty.…